Can McClaren Take England All the Way?

The BBC reports today that manager Steve McClaren is "Ready for England Task" as he moves into the FA's offices at London's Soho Square.

Who knows things might be better under him than under Sven. I had been a big fan of the Swede when he came in but in the end he changed little about the England program and did not achieve any more than previous managers. In the end England was still a quarter-final team, not a champion; not even threatening to be a champion. The only aspect of the England set up that proved to be championship material was the hype generated by the media promoting England as World Cup favourites. Well, in hindsight, England were never favourites in the two Euro championships or two World Cups the participated in under Sven.

And so now we have McClaren who has brought in an English sports psychologist in Bill Beswick, who wrote the book, "Focused for Football" and an assistant in ex-England manager Terry Venables.

These look like strong moves to me.

And McClaren is keen to put his own stamp on the team:

"I'm very excited and can't wait to get started...It's going to be different from Sven, totally different. I'm going to do it my way."

England may well be a different and better motivated side under McClaren, after playing under the quiet Swede for five years.

The questions that remain for me thought are: will McClaren select the correct players, will he play a better style of football and will he be tactically astute enough to take England all the way...